Lightning Tools MCP server

This MCP server provides tools for interacting with lightning addresses and other common lightning functionality through Large Language Models. It can be used alongside the NWC MCP Server for enhanced capabilities.

Installation Options

Using Claude Desktop

Add this configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lightning-tools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@getalby/lightning-tools-mcp-server"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Using Cline

Copy and paste the following into a Cline prompt:

Add the following to my MCP servers list:

"lightning-tools": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "@getalby/lightning-tools-mcp-server"],
  "env": {
  },
  "disabled": false,
  "autoApprove": []
}

Installing From Source

If you prefer to install from source, follow these steps:

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Yarn

Installation Steps

1. Install dependencies:

   yarn install
   

2. Build the project:

   yarn build
   

Usage

Testing Tools Without an LLM

You can inspect and test the available tools without connecting to an LLM using:

yarn inspect

Available Tools

The server provides various lightning-related tools that your LLM can leverage for:

• Interacting with lightning addresses
• Processing lightning payments
• Managing lightning-related configurations
• Other common lightning operations

When connected to your LLM, these tools will be available automatically through the Model Context Protocol interface.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "lightning-tools" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@getalby/lightning-tools-mcp-server"],"env":[]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "lightning-tools": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@getalby/lightning-tools-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env": []
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "lightning-tools": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@getalby/lightning-tools-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env": []
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect